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A Fields medalist recounts his lifelong effort to uncover the geometric shape—the Calabi-Yau manifold—that may store the hidden dimensions of our universe. Harvard geometer Shing-Tung Yau has provided a mathematical foundation for string theory, offered new insights into black holes, and mathematically demonstrated the stability of our universe. In this autobiography, Yau reflects on his improbable journey to becoming one of the world’s most distinguished mathematicians. Beginning with an impoverished childhood in China and Hong Kong, Yau takes readers through his doctoral studies at Berkeley during the height of the Vietnam War protests, his Fields Medal–winning proof of the Calabi ...
The leading mind behind the mathematics of string theory discusses how geometry explains the universe we see. Illustrations.
One of the preeminent mathematicians of the past half century shows how physics and math were combined to give us the theory of gravity and the dizzying array of ideas and insights that has come from it Mathematics is far more than just the language of science. It is a critical underpinning of nature. The famed physicist Albert Einstein demonstrated this in 1915 when he showed that gravity—long considered an attractive force between massive objects—was actually a manifestation of the curvature, or geometry, of space and time. But in making this towering intellectual leap, Einstein needed the help of several mathematicians, including Marcel Grossmann, who introduced him to the geometrical...
In the twentieth century, American mathematicians began to make critical advances in a field previously dominated by Europeans. Harvard’s mathematics department was at the center of these developments. A History in Sum is an inviting account of the pioneers who trailblazed a distinctly American tradition of mathematics—in algebraic geometry and topology, complex analysis, number theory, and a host of esoteric subdisciplines that have rarely been written about outside of journal articles or advanced textbooks. The heady mathematical concepts that emerged, and the men and women who shaped them, are described here in lively, accessible prose. The story begins in 1825, when a precocious sixt...
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I have been through a number of moves myself, as a child and as an adult. I was born in the southern Chinese town of Swatow, now more commonly known as Shantou, on April 4, 1949. My family moved to Hong Kong about six months later, just before the Communists completed their takeover of the government. #2 I grew up listening to my father speak Hakkanese, a language not widely heard these days. He was a professor and author who valued intellect, and he made studying hard a priority for his children. #3 When my father arrived in Hong Kong in 1949, he was a lecturer in history and philosophy at Amoy University in China’s Fujian Province. He had seven people in his family to support, including himself, and he lacked the money to do so. #4 My father was a highly regarded academician in Hong Kong, but he never managed to get a high-paying position. Because he did not speak English, he could not teach at the British-affiliated schools where better salaries were attainable. Instead, he had to cobble together several jobs.
A Fields medalist recounts his lifelong transnational effort to uncover the geometric shape--the Calabi-Yau manifold--that may store the hidden dimensions of our universe. Harvard geometer and Fields medalist Shing-Tung Yau has provided a mathematical foundation for string theory, offered new insights into black holes, and mathematically demonstrated the stability of our universe. In this autobiography, Yau reflects on his improbable journey to becoming one of the world's most distinguished mathematicians. Beginning with an impoverished childhood in China and Hong Kong, Yau takes readers through his doctoral studies at Berkeley during the height of the Vietnam War protests, his Fields Medal-...